


All The Small Things

by TheMysteriousStoryteller



Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - High School, Childhood Trauma, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, its toward the end tho, sorry edd :(((
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-06
Updated: 2019-08-06
Packaged: 2020-08-10 09:00:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20132821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMysteriousStoryteller/pseuds/TheMysteriousStoryteller
Summary: Surprises let me know he cares.





	All The Small Things

**Author's Note:**

> UGHGFHBN FUCK MY WRISTS AND BACK HURT SO MUCH. But uhhhhhh hi guys! I know it's been like a month or so since I last wrote so...sorry! I hope I'll be able to get back into writing stuff soon, since I have so many ideas! I think this story turned out pretty good, but there are a few parts that I fixed a thousand times and still weren't happy with. So...despite that, I hope you like the fic! Comments are always appreciated, and I hope you guys have a good day! :3333

It felt like Edd and been poisoned. 

And, well, maybe he had. Maybe that’s why someone —he couldn’t remember who they were—was encouraging him to “take a sip! It’ll help you relax!” Maybe that’s why he felt immediately nauseous after even taking in the  _ scent _ . Maybe that’s why he was now curled up in a ball in Matt’s basement, his stomach churning and his mind wishing that he could throw up. 

Parties were supposed to be  _ fun _ , weren’t they? They weren’t supposed to make you feel suffocated and nauseous. He just wanted to go over to Matt’s house and have  _ fun _ , even if that meant having to interact with people he didn’t know and/or care about. But, at some time in the night, he had lost Matt, Tom, and Tord, and was now stuck in this basement on his own. If one of them were with him, surely they would’ve helped him out. They would’ve helped him be able to breathe again. 

But, they weren’t here. And really, they were the reason he was even like this in the first place! Well...maybe not directly, but there was the butterfly effect: they had  _ forced  _ him to come here and be around alcohol. Well...maybe not  _ force _ , but they talked him into it even when he insisted he didn’t want to go. Matt wanted Edd to come to his party  _ so  _ bad, after all. Honestly, why would Matt even want that? Wouldn’t having someone like him around ruin his reputation, or something? It was unfathomable that Matt would want to genuinely spend time with such a fucking  _ mess _ like him —

Oh God, he was spiraling down. His body felt hot, yet chills were washing over him like a bucket of ice. It was a merciless cold. It seemed like there was a chance that if he exhaled hard enough, he’d see his own breath. But he wasn’t exhaling or inhaling. Not like a normal person should, at least. His breaths were coming in and out as harsh, ragged pants. He could barely hear anything except for a muffed pop song that seemed to play in two places at once: upstairs, in another room in the house, and in his mind. 

Suddenly, he wasn’t in Matt’s house anymore. However, as for where he exactly was, he couldn’t tell. All he knew was that it was dark and hot, and the stench of alcohol was thick in the air. He heard a voice.    
  
“Edd?”   
  
Edd opened his mouth, but no words came out. The voice sounded so familiar, yet...it couldn’t be  _ him _ . He heard the voice again, and he strained his ears to decipher who owned that voice.

“Edd? Are you okay?” 

It wasn’t him. It  _ couldn’t _ be him. But if wasn’t him, then why did his body feel like static? Why did it feel like there were thousands of bugs crawling all over him, and he couldn’t get them off? Why did he feel so  _ dirty _ ? 

A scream suddenly ripped through Edd’s throat. “Stop!  _ Stop _ !” 

“Edd!” He could hear the voice getting closer. “It’s me, Tom!”

The name didn’t register in Edd’s mind. He scrambled to back away from the source of the voice, his legs and arms flailing about. He yelled complete gibberish as he felt his back hit the wall. There was nothing he could do now. He was trapped, powerless, and  _ alone _ . That pop song still played in his head, but it somehow sounded more menacing now. The voice spoke again, but it didn’t sound any closer. 

“Edd,  _ breathe _ ! You’re gonna be fine.” Tom tried to reassure his friend. He squinted a little, barely seeing Edd cowering in the far corner of the basement. He had to admit, this was terrifying; he had never seen Edd look this vulnerable and scared. However, he pushed his surprise and fear down to try and comfort him from a distance. He had figured out pretty quickly from Edd’s yelling that it’d be a bad idea for him to get close. “Edd, focus on my voice. You’re gonna be okay. Just breathe. In, out, in, out...” 

“Please—Please stop,” Edd whimpered in reply, not processing Tom’s attempts at comfort. Tom was about to voice his confusion, but Edd continued. “It—It hurts...stop. Stop stop stop  _ stop _ !” The volume and intensity in his voice rose with every “stop” until he was yelling. While Tom tried to talk to him and console him, Edd was in his own world. A world that was dark; a world that felt terrible; a world he constantly tried to push into the deepest corners of his mind. He continued to yell and thrash until his lungs couldn’t take it and his body gave out on him. At least the song had stopped playing, and the visions had gone away. Now, it was just a peaceful silence. 

When it suddenly got quiet, Tom got worried. “Edd?” He took a few hesitant steps forward, incredibly aware of his own shoes tapping against the ceramic tile. When he didn’t hear Edd protest, he got close enough to kneel down and touch the other’s shoulder. There was no verbal or physical response. However, Tom could hear Edd’s soft, raspy breathing. With a soft sigh, he put his arms under the other’s back and legs and scooped him up with a strained groan. He hoped Matt didn’t mind his room being occupied. 

Edd woke up with a gasp, as if a weight had been lifted off of his body. He quickly sat up and put a hand to his chest, pressing against his sternum and feeling his heart race. Sweat had soaked the shirt under his hoodie and his pants, which both clung uncomfortably to his skin. At least they were still on him, he supposed. He was about to relax before he looked to his left and saw the white light of a cellphone being held by someone. He opened his mouth to yell, but stopped when he heard a familiar voice. 

“Hey, you’re awake,” Tom greeted. He smiled and stood up, walking over to the door and flicking the light switch next to it. Suddenly, the room lit up, making Edd groan and slip one hand under his bangs to cover his eyes. 

“Geez, could’ve given me a warning…” Edd grumbled. 

“Sorry.” Tom’s smile grew sheepish as he walked back over to the desk chair, sitting back down. Once Edd’s eyes had gotten adjusted to the light, he looked around. In only a few seconds, he gathered that he was in Matt’s bedroom. As soon as he wondered why he was in Matt’s house, the memories came flooding back. The party, the alcohol, the panic attack...it all came to him at once. He groaned and put a hand to his head, feeling how hot and sweaty it was. Looking at the window, he realized that it was still night. However, it was quiet. The music was no longer playing downstairs, and he couldn’t hear anyone talking. Had the party ended? Wait. Who the hell cared about the answer to that? There was something much more pressing that he wanted to ask. 

“So...why am I in Matt’s room?” Edd questioned, looking away from the window and at Tom. Tom set his phone on his thigh. 

“Well, you had a really bad panic attack and passed out. I didn’t wanna leave you in the basement, so...I carried you up here,” Tom explained. 

“You—You  _ carried  _ me up here?” Edd’s eyes widened a little, the pitch of his voice rising. Tom could barely carry  _ Tord _ , how the hell could he carry him?   
  
“Uhm, yeah. That’s what I said.” Tom chuckled. “It was really hard, especially with all the stairs, but...like I said, I didn’t wanna leave you down there.”

“And...you’ve just been sitting here, waiting for me to wake up?” Edd tilted his head, his eyes unintentionally narrowing with suspicion. 

“Uh...basically. I went down to get a snack a bit ago, but that’s about it,” Tom answered. 

“Of course,” Edd muttered, rolling his eyes at his friend’s ability to never be full. While normally, the thought of him being alone with someone while he was unconscious was terrifying, there wasn’t any evidence that something nefarious had been done. Plus, it was  _ Tom _ . Edd would like to think that Tom wouldn’t think of doing  _ anything  _ like that. 

“Well...thanks for carrying me up, I guess,” he thanked Tom. 

“Hey, it’s no problem.” Tom waved his hand and smiled. “I also got you some pizza and water, just in case you were hungry or thirsty when you got up.” He motioned to the nightstand, which had a glass of water and a slice of pizza on a paper plate on it.   
  
“Oh.” Edd tried to not let his surprise show, and instead reached over to grab the glass of water. It had warmed up to the point where it was now room temperature, but Edd still downed the water down like he had been in the middle of the desert for two days straight. 

Feeling like now was as good of a time as ever, Tom decided to bring the events from the previous hours up. “So, uh...did you wanna talk about anything? I mean...that was a pretty bad panic attack.” He quickly added on, “you don’t have to, by the way, I just...I’m a little worried.”   
  
“Aren’t you always?” Edd replied in an instinctively snarky tone before following it up with, “nah. I’m good now. It was just...you know.” He waved his hand about vaguely, refusing to elaborate any more. The mere  _ thought _ of telling someone about what had happened made him want to hurl; he couldn’t imagine actually going through with it.

“Uh...yeah. I getcha.” Tom nodded with a small laugh, deciding not to push it despite his worry. “Well...if there’s anything I can do for you, let me know.”   
  
Edd felt his heart warm a little. “Thanks, dude. I appreciate it.” He gave Tom a small, genuine smile. 

“Of—Of course.” Tom smiled back, looking down and picking at his cuticle. Edd chortled. Thinking about everything Tom had done for him, he felt his heart swell with affection for the other. Tom was too good for him. Really, any of his other friends would’ve probably left him in the basement. Tom took the time to carry him upstairs, get him food and water, and even bother to ask if he was okay and if he wanted to talk about anything. Hell, he even backed down when Edd told him he didn’t want to talk about it! Tom wasn’t like that other boy. He’d never hurt Edd like  _ he  _ had hurt him. Tom was sweet, compassionate, and just a good friend overall. Even if that was pretty gay of him to admit.

“So...has everyone else passed out?” Edd asked. 

“Yeah, basically. It’s just us now, I think,” Tom answered. “So...did you wanna stay up here and chill, or…?”

“Honestly, I kinda just wanna go home,” Edd answered with a sigh. “Or just...go anywhere but here.”

“Ah, okay.” Tom nodded. “Well...you can always come home with me.” 

“You know…” Edd smiled a little at the thought of hanging out with just Tom. “I think I’d like that.” 

“Coolio.” Tom’s eyes flickered over to the slice of pizza. “Before we go, are you gonna eat that pizza?”   
  
Edd let out a snicker. “Nah. Go ahead, you bottomless pit.” 

“Hey!” Tom huffed and stood up, pocketing his phone and walking over to the nightstand. He took the pizza and demolished it in a few bites. And, even though he really shouldn’t be, Edd was still surprised. 

Once Tom had finished eating his pizza, the two walked downstairs, carefully avoiding all of the passed out teenagers on the floor. While Edd put his shoes back on, Tom opened the door and walked out, waiting for Edd. He glanced at his bike, let out a quick sigh, and shook his head. As Edd walked out, Tom closed the door behind them both and gave him a smile. Edd smiled back, and the two began to walk past Matt’s yard and toward the road. 

As they walked down the road to Tom’s house, Edd couldn’t stop looking at his friend. The way he poked his tongue out a little as he walked, and how he was always turning his head to look around them, and the way his eyes uniquely sparkled like a thousand stars. Personally, Edd found them prettier than the night sky that hung above them. 

It was then that Edd realized that he was truly lucky to know someone like Tom. Someone kind, smart, and respectful of his boundaries. Also, someone with a really cool style and unique eyes, but that was just a plus. He really didn’t deserve him, but...he had him, anyway. And God, was he grateful for that. 

For the entire time during their walk and even after that, Edd found himself wishing that there were more people like Tom. 


End file.
